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Turning Suffering and Happiness Into Enlightenment Jikme Tenpe Nyime (1865-1926) the Third Drodupchen Rinpoche

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Turning Suffering and Happiness Into Enlightenment Jikme Tenpe Nyime (1865-1926) the Third Drodupchen Rinpoche Turning Suffering and Happiness into Enlightenment Jikme Tenpe Nyime (1865-1926) The Third Drodupchen Rinpoche Homage to Arya Avolokiteshvara by the recollection of his qualities which were celebrated thus: He who will ever be made happy by the happiness of others, And who feels extreme distress when suffering comes to them, Having fully attained the quality of great compassion, He will renounce his own happiness and sufferings. I am going to write a partial instruction on acceptance of happiness and suffering as the Path. It is the most precious teaching in the world, and a necessary tool for the holy life. The Way of Accepting Suffering as the Path to Enlightenment: 1. By Means of the Relative Truth Whenever harm comes to you from beings or non-beings, if your mind experiences on the consciousness of sorrow, then even from a small incident great mental pain will develop. For it is its nature that any consciousness, either of suffering or happiness, will increase by experiencing it. If the experience gradually becomes stronger, a time will come when most of what appears will become the cause of drawing unhappiness to ourselves, and happiness will never have a chance. If you do not know that the responsibility lies within one’s own mind’s way of experiencing and you put the blame on external objects alone, then the ceaseless flame of suffering and anger – bad karma – will increase. This is called appearances arising in the form of the enemy. You should thoroughly understand that the reason why sentient beings of the dark age are afflicted by suffering is fundamentally related to the weakness of their discriminating awareness. Therefore, not to be hurt by the obstacles of enemies, illness, and harmful spirits does not mean that we can drive away vicissitudes such as illness and that they will not occur again. Rather, it means that they will not be able to arise and take the form of obstacles to the practice of the Path to enlightenment. In order for this to come about, you should practice in the following two ways: (i) Reject the state of mind exclusively desiring not to have suffering. Ascertain again and again the uselessness and harmfulness of considering suffering as something unfavorable, and be aware of how much anxiety you experience from aversion to it. Train yourself to develop great courage, and experience powerfully the thought that from now on, whatever suffering comes, I shall not be anxious. a) The uselessness of considering suffering as something unfavorable: If you can cure the suffering, then you do not need to be unhappy; if you cannot change it, there is no benefit from being unhappy about it. b) The great harm of considering suffering as something unfavorable: If you do not feel anxious, your strength of mind can help you to bear even great sufferings easily. They feel light and flimsy like cotton. Because of anxiety, you are ceaselessly oppressed by unhappy feelings, and even small sufferings are intolerable. For example, while you are thinking of a beautiful man or woman, even if you try to get rid of desire, you will only exhaust yourself. Likewise, by concentrating on the painful characteristics of suffering, you cannot develop patience. So, as in the case of the instructions on sealing the doors of the faculties, you should not concentrate your mind on the characteristics of suffering, but you should become experiences in keeping your mind in its normal conditions and in its own state. (ii) Develop the attitude of being happy that sufferings arise. Practice cultivating joy by considering suffering as an aid to the Path. Whenever suffering arises, you must have a virtuous practice to apply to it, according to the ability of your mind, because it will be difficult to succeed if you only ponder the general principle that a spiritual method can bring certain benefits from suffering as a support to practice. As it is said: “That is farther than the earth from the sky.” (a) Suffering as the support of training in the thought of turning away from samsara: Think that as long as you are wandering powerless in samsara, suffering does not arise as something unjust, but that the nature of samsara is like that. Reflect that if it is difficult to bear even the little sufferings of the happy realms, there is nothing to be said about the lower realms. Develop sadness by thinking that, “Alas, samsara is an endless and unfathomable ocean of suffering”, and turn your mind to liberation. (b) Suffering as the support of training in taking refuge: Practice taking refuge by gaining certainty that the three jewels are the only unbetraying refuge amidst the continuous suffering of fear and danger throughout the succession of your lives, so that you should depend on them in all ways, not renouncing them in any circumstances. (c) Suffering as the support of training in dispelling arrogance: Annihilate pride and contempt for others, which are the destructive enemies of merits, by becoming aware that one has no freedom, one has not passed beyond the control of suffering. (d) Suffering as the support for purification of negative karma: The suffering you have experienced, and sufferings that are unimaginably numerous and sever, all arise from the defilements alone. So think carefully about these four principles: The certainty of the operation of karma. Then tendency of karma to increase greatly. You will not encounter the result of what you have not done. What you have done will not be wasted. Reflect that if you do not want suffering, then you should renounce the cause of suffering, which is being non-virtuous, purify the previously accumulated defilements by the four powers, and endeavor to prevent future defilements from arising. (e) Suffering as the support for attraction to virtue: Reflect that if you desire happiness, which is the opposite of suffering, you should try to practice its cause, which is virtue. Consider thoroughly and at length how to act for the increase of virtue. (f) Suffering as the support for training in compassion: Reflect that, like myself, other sentient beings are also tortured by the same or greater suffering. Train yourself to think how good it would be if they too were to free themselves from all sufferings. By this means, you will also understand the way of practicing loving kindness, which is the intention to help those who are bereft of happiness. (g) Taking suffering as the support of the meditation that others are more dear than oneself: The fact that one is not released from suffering is the result of cherishing oneself from beginningless time. Now you should practice thinking that you will only cherish others, which is the source of happiness and virtue. __________ It is very difficult to practice taking suffering as the Path when you actually come face to face with sorrows. So it is important to become familiar in advance with the practices of virtue that are to be applied to unfavorable circumstances. Also, it is best for you to apply a practice of which you have clear experience. It is not enough simply for suffering to become the support of virtuous practice; you have to realize perfectly that this is what has happened, and you should certainly obtain a strong and stable continuity of joy, which is brought about by that realization. Any time that you practice what I have unfolded, you should reflect that, by the suffering you experience you are getting a great support for the excellent and manifold joys of the higher realms, and for liberation, difficult to obtain, and that in the future it will come about in this way again. So even if the suffering is severe, it is a supremely agreeable thing: It is like ladu (a sweet) of molasses, mixed with cardamon and pepper. Think about this again and again, and gain experience of the bliss of the mind. If this happens, the superabundance of mental bliss will make the suffering of the sense faculties as if it were imperceptible. The criterion for illness to be overcome by patience, is that the mind is not able to be harmed by suffering. This also gives you the clue to overcoming enemies and evil spirits as well. As mentioned above, reversing the thought of dislike for suffering is the foundation of taking suffering as the Path, because while your mind is disturbed and your courage or interest is extinguished by anxiety, you cannot turn suffering into the Path. By training in taking suffering as the actual Path, you will also improve your capacity for bliss, as mentioned above, because by actually experiencing the increase of virtuous practice through suffering, you will become more and more cheerful. As it is said: “If you gradually train yourself through small sufferings — by gradual stages — finally you will be able to train yourself in great sufferings as well.” You should act accordingly, for it will be difficult to gain experience through things that are beyond the capacity of your own mind. In period of withdrawal from meditation, you should pray to the Lama and the three jewels in order to turn suffering into the Path. When your mind has grown a little stronger, after making offerings to the triple gem and the spirits, you should request them to send unfavorable circumstances, in order that you may receive training in the practice of virtue. You should always have the confidence of happiness and cheerfulness. When first training, it is important to keep entertainments at a distance. In the midst of entertainments you may be influenced by many bad friends who say, “How can you bear suffering and contempt?” From many worries caused by enemies, relatives and wealth, your mind will be polluted and disturbed beyond control so that you will develop bad habits.
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